念佛鏡 1.5

1.5

Śākyamuni Tathāgata is the Master who guides [them] to the pure land. Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta are those who assist the Buddha in propagating the transformation. For this reason, in the doctrinal scriptures of the Tathāgata's entire lifetime, he repeatedly and earnestly exhorts rebirth [there]. Amitābha, together with Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta, board the great ship of vows to sail across the sea of birth and death, not attaching to this shore, not remaining on that shore, and not staying midstream, taking only crossing over and deliverance as their Buddha-work. Therefore the *Amitābha-sūtra* states: "If a good man or good woman hears of Amitābha and firmly upholds his name, whether for one day or up to seven days, single-mindedly and without distraction, then when that person approaches the end of life, Amitābha and the assembly of holy ones will appear before them. When this person dies, their mind will not be disordered, and they will immediately attain rebirth in the land of Sukhāvatī." Moreover, a sūtra says: "If sentient beings in the ten directions hear my name, remember my land, plant all roots of virtue, and with sincere mind dedicate them, desiring to be born in my land, should they not succeed, may I not attain sambodhi." For this reason, the Impermanence Hall of the Jetavana Vihāra caused sick persons to face west and cultivate the thought of rebirth in the pure land. For Amitābha's light shines universally throughout the dharmadhātu, taking in and never abandoning sentient beings who practice buddhānusmṛti. The holy and the ordinary are of one substance, their capacity and response corresponding: the sentient beings within the minds of all Buddhas are, dust by dust, in Sukhāvatī; the pure land within the minds of sentient beings is, thought by thought, Amitābha. As I observe it from this: those with wisdom easily attain rebirth, because they can sever doubt; those with meditative concentration easily attain rebirth, because they are not scattered; those who uphold the precepts easily attain rebirth, because they stay far from defilements; those who practice giving easily attain rebirth, because they do not have possessiveness; those who practice patience easily attain rebirth, because they harbor no anger; those who practice vigor easily attain rebirth, because they are avaivartika; those who do neither good nor evil easily attain rebirth, because their mindfulness is pure and unified; those who have already committed all evils and whose karmic retribution has already manifested easily attain rebirth, because they feel genuine shame and fear. Even if one has many goods, if one lacks a sincere and faithful mind, lacks a deep mind, and lacks a mind of pariṇāmanā and making vows, one cannot attain the highest level of the highest grade of rebirth.